5 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This August

Despite the market’s sluggish movement, top market analysts still see the crypto market ending the year on a high.
For a number of crypto projects, August is a critical month that could see them turn their fortunes.

July offered a glimpse of hope to crypto investors after a turbulent couple of months. In the four weeks, a majority of cryptocurrencies were able to rebound after seemingly finding their bottom. Bitcoin which generally leads the wider market has found support at $23,000 after falling as low as $19,000. In addition to price stabilizing, trading volume has also rebounded as well as institutional investors accumulated.

A couple of coins are undergoing or planning to undergo major developments. With August promising to bring even more returns, here is a look at Cardano and Ethereum.

Cardano

A major upgrade is expected on the Cardano project. Dubbed the Vasil upgrade, the team behind the project has referred to it as the most critical upgrade in the project’s lifetime. The upgrade is designed to improve functionality, scalability, and utility. However, the upgrade is highly anticipated upgrade has hit a couple of pitfalls. In the last few weeks, the upgrade has been delayed with the team taking a cautious approach to its final release.

Some Brief Comments on Vasil https://t.co/2ukWZZJoto

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 1, 2022

Cardano has always taken an optimistically cautious approach to its development and the Vasil upgrade is no different. With the upgrade scheduled for the next few weeks, retail and institutional investors are set to rally behind the project’s native token, ADA. At the time of press, ADA is trading for $0.511. The price is likely to rise higher ahead of the upgrade.

Ethereum

Ethereum is also set for a historic upgrade. In September, Ethereum will undergo the final upgrade of ‘The Merge.’ The upgrade is set to see the network transition from the Proof-of-Work algorithm to Proof-of-Stake. The transition will not only see the network’s energy consumption drastically fall but also its gas fees. Additionally, its scaling issues will be addressed and transactions per second (TPS) speeds improved.

The Ethereum PoW -> PoS merge next month is big:

– $7.5B+ in annual supply pressure lifted

– Transaction fees get burned, ETH becomes deflationary

– Energy consumption decreases by ~99.9%

— Nick Tomaino (@NTmoney) August 2, 2022

Ethereum, the biggest altcoin by market cap has in the last couple of years cemented itself as the blockchain to build on. With the network set to make key improvements in key avenues that it has struggled in over that period, the project is set to become an undisputed leader in the space.